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Category: Politics

Looking at my calendar, I can’t help but wonder how fast and far this year 2016 has gone. We are already in the 6th day of January- We should actually start counting down to 2017 already. As a tradition at the beginning of a new year: Prophets, Economists, Social commentators and Policy makers predict on the economy, sociopolitical and all-wise state of the nation for the year. Almost always accompanied with doom messages (they actually sell better). The bottom-line messages for the year 2016 is hovering on a bleak economy partly caused by the decline in oil prices and the economic recession caused by the past administration and the just-starting new government.

As a result of this, the populace has been ‘promised’ with job cuts, stringent and belt-tightening measures by the government to forestall a total breakdown of the economy. Panic everywhere! Where do we stand in all of this? Despite this, Nigeria is ranked as the fastest growing African economy owing to its human capital. The Human Resources accounts for its strength, not oil! Any business started in Nigeria that can succeed will probably succeed anywhere in the world.

A story is said of two young men who went to the village Chief priest to consult on their future. One was told he would become a king and get so wealthy while the other was told he will be so poor and a servant. The fellow who was promised wealth took to the streets;jubilated, gallivanted and lived recklessly (at least he will be rich after all) while the other one began to work hard, toiled day and night at least to cushion the effect of his impending poverty. The Years went by, the one that was prophesied to be poor became so wealthy that he was elected the king while the one who was told he would be wealthy became the poor servant due to his wasteful lifestyle.

I will highlight a few points in which you can take the paddle and control the tide in your favour this year.

Identify Opportunities and take advantage FAST: As a result of less concentration of income in the oil sector, a lot of opportunities will spring up. A lot of startups were created in the past years as a result of this opportunities, they identified what we ignored and are making a difference with them. A lot actually have existed before now but you’ve been blind to them. Look more closely to things that add value to others and you can offer at a cost. Get a business registered and boom!

Get better: An MTN advert started sometimes in 2014 that “Leave Good behind”. Using the same approach year in year out will bring monotony in duty and action. Get better at what you do, the services you render and how you carry out activities. Hire consultancy firms to help reorganize your businesses, attend workshops and conferences to be better at what you do because the competition will be much more.

Hope for the best, Expect the worst: Have contingency plans. If Plan A doesn’t work out, move on to plan B without making a fuss about it. A lot of job cuts are ongoing, and would still go on. Start sending your CV out already, start preparing that business plan, start saving up so you don’t get caught unprepared.

Build your network and regularly keep in touch: A saying says “Your network is your net-worth”. Your first customers in any business are probably referred to by people you already know. Relevant networking is key.

Be ready to learn and unlearn: Truth is some accountants will end up taking sales job (that is already happening). You might need to diversify on what you already know and at the same time unlearn some wrong perceptions. You need knowledge on current trends and know exactly which is needed to adapt to.

I believe with this you are ready to sharpen your reality and make 2016 your most profiting one.

Damilola Cole

He is an Accountant. He is the Managing Consultant at DD Oil and Gas Consults, A firm with specialty in the retail downstream sector. You can engage him on twitter @dami_cole

Its been a pretty long time i have posted and this has been due to re-branding and adjustment issues. I promise i won’t be far from you guys.

I am pleased to inform you my frequent readers of a 31day challenge starting December 1st 2015. It would include posts from me and a few guests on topical issues throughout the month. This posts promise to cast a reflection on the concluding year and starting the new year with a bang.

My view on news that made headlines this week:
It was disheartening going through the headlines this week, all news seems to be really annoying and infuriating. They include:
The 237 kidnapped Nigerian girls: Today marks 67 days since the kidnap of some girls from Chibok, Borno state. They had sat for an examination and ended up being kidnapped by the ferocious Boko Haram sect. The government keeps mud-slinging and playing politics with the lives of their citizens. The primary role of government is the security of lives and property.
Ekiti elections: The political class in Nigeria has always being characterized by its intrigues and antics. Every aspirant irrespective of his level of education goes haywire and beserk during the electioneering process. Incidences of assault, accusations and counter-accusations have been the order of the day. Yet the citizens don’t learn lesson, they trade votes for foodstuffs, money and other materials. The government of the day uses security apparatus to molest its oppositions.
Mohammed Abacha and N432bn charge acquittal: During the week, the son of the late Head of State – Sanni Abacha had charges dropped against him in respect of the loot. His purported gubernatorial ambition at Kano is enough reason for this. This shows the high level of commitment of the government towards fighting corruption.
Bode- George’s wife named as Director-general of NDLEA : I saw the news as a joke at first but on confirmation I was distraught. She is the wife of an ex-convict who was charged of embezzling funds as the chairman of the Nigerian Ports Authority (also a regulatory body). Only time will tell what worse news we should expect.
436 northerners conveyed in about 40 buses were arrested earlier this week in Abia state for being suspected members of the dreaded Boko haram group. The news was received with joy at various sections of the country as it seemed like the country has started bracing its security even as a kingpin was said to be arrested. But the real truth is that this might just be the case of ethnic profiling in which people of a particular group/race are authomatically assumed to be the same.
This needs to be checked in order to forestall incidences of reprisal/genocide at its worst case scenario.

Many thanks to my motivation – My boo for inspiring me to write this column today.

Let me tell you a story about Myles Munroe, When he was age 16, he started speaking on Leadership and at age 17, the prime minister of his state called his mother’s phone and said “I’d Like to meet your son, Myles went ahead to see him. The prime minister said to him “Do you know you have more influence in my country than I do? Myles was shocked and embarrassed and he replied “ Mr Prime Minister, you are the president of this country, how can a 17years old boy be more powerful than you? And he said “Son you can bring together 5000people in a place without them smoking cigarette, take alcohol and they all gather to listen to you, I can never bring together5000 teenagers in my country, they will never listen to me, and they are the future of my country and you young man control the future of my country. Can you tell me your secret? Myles replied “ Sir I don’t know, I just gather them to tell them what happened in my life, I was in a family of 13, A father, A mother, and 11 children. I remember when I was sleeping on the floor with mosquito bitting me and roaches everywhere and my teacher in school told me “I’m ignorant, I can not learn
anything, Am retarded and am black, am not real
human and he is just wasting his time teaching me, I went to my mum and told her what the teacher told me and my mum said son never say that again and she gave me a book and in that book I learnt who I am and ten principles I needed to possess and that is what made me. My teacher told me blacks are monkeys and not human, and he said am a monkey.. After reading the book I went from F to A’s and was the best student in high school, I got an award and I gave it to the teacher who called me a Monkey, and i told him am a smart monkey, he was embarrassed and he said How did you do it?

NOTE: Don’t let anyone tell you who you are.
Every Human wants to succeed! No one decides
to fail, we all want to achieve. Do you know that your success is good For God? God needs you to succeed. Every manufacturer who makes a product wants the product to succeed. God design seed to be successful to bring forth tree. Seed into the soil and with water and sunlight help the seed to succeed. You need some principles to succeed!

WHAT ARE THE TEN PRINCIPLES?
1) PURPOSE: Purpose is the original
reason for the creation of a thing. E.g A bird was created by God to fly. If it doesn’t fly then it hasn’t fulfil its purpose. You were born to do
something very special, if you don’t find your gift and don’t discover what you are born to do, then- you have failed. You must discover your purpose. The reason behind your creation. Success is measured by what you are born to do. Your purpose is the ideas that keeps coming to your mind. Your purpose is what you complain alot and needs to be changed in your country. The same way a bird is trapped in flight, Your purpose is trapped in you.
DISCOVER YOUR PURPOSE.
2) PASSION: Passion is the desire
stronger than opposition, disappointment and death. A person with passion doesn’t need external motivation, A person with passion is someone who is willing to lose friends, sacrifice their pleasures, doesn’t need alarm clock to wake, A person with passion doesn’t get bored because life itself is really for living. Passion is when you discover your purpose for living.
3) PLANNING: Planning is writing your
dream in a piece of paper. If you don’t document
your dream you don’t want to achieve. Someone
asked “How do you know if your dream is the
right dream?” Here’s the answer, if your dream
only benefits you then its not from God, True
vision and true dreams always benefits others
around you. A young boy was asked “ What’s your dream” He replied “I have a dream to own a
10room apartment next to the beach, Travel all
around the world, eat whatever I want to eat..
That is not a vision, its a personal ambition. Get
a dream in your heart to help other people.
Don’t follow personal ambition. You must put your purpose and passion on Paper.
4) PRINCIPLES: You must live by
principles if you are going to be successful. What are the principles? LAWS! You must live by
principle to protect your purpose. For example,
Myles Munroe lived in a neighbourhood where
people smoke cigarette, marijuana and take all
sort of alcohols, he never snuffed a marijuana
leaf, or drink alcohol or smoke cigarette. When
they offer him these things, he remembered he
wrote his dreams on paper. He knows when he
smoke its gonna hurt his liver, and he is gonna lose his dream. A young girl wants to have sex with him, it sounds good, but he remember he wrote his dreams on paper and when he sleep with her and she gets pregnant, He would be forced to marry her. So he told her, i can’t sleep with you, my dream is more important than Sex. Principles are what you painfully decides and you are not violating.
5) PEOPLE: If you want to be
successful, you must choose the right people to be in your life. Some of you have friends before
reading this, if you read well, you will change your friend after reading this. Who is a friend? A friend is anyone who can help you fulfil your
dreams, who can take you to your destiny, who can help you achieve your vision. If you have a friend who can’t help you to achieve your vision, or can’t take you to your destiny or can’t help you to fulfil your dream is NOT a friend. If your friend tells you, let’s go drink alcohols, he is not a friend, they only want to cancel your dream, You must tell your friends, I read this article and I made some changes and one of the changes I made was YOU. Check your friends out. If you are the smartest amongst your friend, you have to change the group, you need to be among people that can make you grow, ask you question and help you think bigger. You can outgrow your friend. People who are doing
nothing wants you to do it them. People who are
going nowhere wants you to go with them. I want
you to tell them GOODBYE. Your future is
determined by the friends you keep. You cannot
choose your brothers and sisters but you can
choose your friends. Friends are more important
than brothers and sisters. King Solomon said
brothers and sister are for adversity but friends would love you at all times. Don’t be with people who don’t believe your vision. You can be the next president of this country but someone would want you to smoke, drink alcohol have sex and destroy your dream. Protect your dream from people who would destroy it. People can either help you or hurt you. There are 4 types of people
– Multipliers: Those who multiply to your dream
– Substracters: Those who distract you and
substract from your dream.
-Dividers: Those who divide from you and confuse
you.
-Additions: Those who add to your dream
I am here to multiply to your dreams… Am a good
friend!
A book can be the best friend in your life. Books
are good people. Lock the door, turn off the T.V
and speak to a friend through the pages of a book. Stop wasting time and read books. They can keep friend with you. The Eagle is the most successful bird in the world. Eagles fly alone, they dont fly with any other birds. If you are going to be a successful young man, stay away from the crowd, scare away from the gang.
6) PERSISTENCE: You insist on getting
what you dream, you lost everything, people left
you, people disappointed you but never lost your
dream. Persistence is when you decide no matter
what happens am coming back.
7) PATIENCE: No one is successful in a
day/year. Patience is postponing the fulfilment of pleasures. Patience is not complaining, patience is working while you are waiting, Patience is preparing yourself for which you are preparing to recieve. My friend asked me (Myles Munroe) what you going to do after high school, i said i want to go to college,He said he wants to go and work in the gas station and in 4years he will have more money. I knew i didn’t have money but i was patience, My elder sister saw my dream on paper and gave me all the money that she saved for her house and I used the money to go to school, I knew I needed a scholarship and I studied to get a 4.0. your problem is not money, start somewhere. Good news: My company is one of the largest and my sister is the administrative assistant. Do you know who pays her salary? Her younger brother, Do you know who is my financial director?, Her
husband. Do you know who is the director of
multimedia liveshow, Her daughter. She never
knew she gave that money to her boss. Be nice to
someone today.
8) PERSEVERANCE: Perseverance is
gettting up after you fall down. Every successful person is a result of getting back up. If you lose all your money, all your friends, Get back up. Never trust a person who hasn’t survived anything. A hard hands is what you pay to set your people free. Imagine the life of Nelson Mandela. You will never be accepted until you are being totally rejected. When you talk you learn what you know, when you listen you learn what the other man knows, when you are in the midst of great people, Don’t talk, but ask questions. Stop trying to make an easy life, do what is right all the time.
9) POSTERITY: The next generation. If
you are going to be a successful man/woman,
success is measured by what you do for others. Is your dream big enough for the unborn to enjoy it? Think about your dreams, can you transfer what you are doing to the next generation. Success always think of posterity.
10) PRAYER: It is the most important
one. Prayer is daily consulting the one who gave you number one (PURPOSE). God is important, no one knows a product like the manufacturer. You must spend time with him more than anybody else. When you are reading, stop and talk to the manufacturer, when you are driving, talk to him and sometimes don’t talk, Just listen!

Note: Do not seek success, seek to become a
person of value. Make yourself valuable by
discovering your gift and your dream. Your gift
would attract people to you. You were not born for yourself, you were born for us. Do you know that the cemetery is the wealthiest place on earth. Why? Because there in the cemetry are books that were never written, in the grave yard, there are music that were never heard, there are poetry that were never being read, In the cemetry we have dreams that died as night mares. In the graveyard there are schools that never opened, In the grave yard, there are great men who died as alcoholics, In the grave yard there are great women who died as prostitute and drug addicts. The grave yard is so wealthy. It is that same grave yard that made me write this, because I don’t want the grave yard to get an awesome treasure. I wrote this to tell you, Don’t take your dreams, your books, your vision, your ideas to the cemetery. I wrote this to help you die empty. I wrote this because I want you to disappoint the cemetery. I want you to die like a man that said “I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. SEE YOU AT THE TOP.

– This Principles were taught by Myles Munroe at L.E.A.R.N “Time out with the youth” at LTV 27th October, 2013.

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Do not hesitate to leave your opinion in the
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to damilolacole@gmail.com

Its few hours to the end of 2013 and this keeps ringing in my head to write. i’ve had many blogs yet unwritten, many words yet said and many actions yet done. As i frequently do, yearly…..I write on lessons i gained through the year in a view of being objective and strategizing for the coming one And as i always insist – I AM NOT A WRITER.

1.) Believe in yourself : This is the greatest lesson i have learnt in 2013, if your believe in what you do and who are then perhaps the sky is the limit. Once you set your mind to achieving something, then a major limitation has being removed.

2.) Trust people BUT… always give room for their failures, then you would not be dissapointed.

3.) Trust God because everything will eventually be fine. There can be accidental parents or children but you are not accidental to this world. God has your back ALL the way.

4.) Knowing your purpose and sticking to it early is the pathway to greatness: Your purpose can be known from what you enjoy doing, your passion, what you find yourself doing very easily( for free perhaps). Sticking to it on time guarantees high-rising.

5.) Having a mentor doesn’t make you a photocopy of an original, rather makes you easily get a pattern to which you can follow. Added to my list of mentors like Fela Durotoye and Bishop Oyedepo this year is Mr Gamaliel Onosode (google him). I learnt a few things from what he did at my age and worked dilligently on it.

6.) Attitude is everything: That is a title of a book actually, developing the right mindset towards every situation is a key to greatness.

7.) Love life.

8.) The race is not for the swift or strong after all.

9.) “To be IT, Fake IT then eventually you’ll be IT”

10.) Have great friends: I made a lot of good friends, let go of old friendships that were draining. My friends had a way of encouraging me and showing it can only get better.

11.) Never stop learning, keep thirsting for more knowledge.

12.) What you will be is not so far from where you are at the moment.

13.) Make positive impressions where-ever you are, You never know who is watching you.

Generally, 2013 was a great year for me. I intend blogging more often in 2014. I intend pouring out what is inside me and as i usually say DIE EMPTY. You can follow my blog, send me a mail or leave your comments.

I have a confession to make to you. It’s a little shocking: -I’m crazy!- But before you feel sorry for me, please be informed that there is one main thing I have in common with Mahatma Gandhi of India, Nelson Mandela of South Africa, Ted Turner of CNN, Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, Bill Gates of Microsoft even Malala of Pakistan and many other people- we are all crazy! I’m sure you would. agree that only a very crazy person would leave the world’s greatest university- Harvard, not because of academic or financial problems but to pursue some far-fetched dream that had never had commercial value before then. Even already tested and well funded business models fail. How much more an untried idea from someone just barely in his twenties? But that is the story of Bill Gates and Microsoft. It is also the story of Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook. Oh, you are not sure we are crazy? Or more recently, a sixteen year old girl called Malala. She has been declared the World’s boldest girl and this was after her strong stance on Female education in ‘Taliban-infested’ Pakistan. She decided to go to school and was shot. As God would have it she wasn’t killed. Today, Malala is a world-acclaimed female-education activist. Isn’t that Crazy? Hang on! Did anyone ever tell you of what Mahatma Gandhi did to liberate India from white oppression? He told his people to fight armed men without arms! They were literally to be lambs to the slaughter, to show passive resistance, face punishments willingly, go to jail, lose their lives…there was a time a British General ordered that fire be opened on a crowd of protesting unarmed Indians inspite of the fact that there was nothing threatening about them. They were in an enclosed square and the British soldiers blocked the entrance. Over one thousand Indians were shot that day including women and children. But this was the result of Gandhi’s teachings to the Indians. It is worthy of note that this strategy brought India her freedom and ultimately it wasn’t as costly (even in terms of lives) as a real war would have been and it demonstrated greater humanity than the British were able to handle. We have similar examples (patterned after Gandhi) in Martin Luther King Jnr and Nelson Mandela. How about the guy who insisted that the world was round? Galileo Galilee was criticized by the church which was at that time more of a political organization. He had to withdraw his claim when they decided to burn him alive because of his discovery. Today, we all agree that the world is round. But at that time, Galileo was said to be mad. What about Ted Turner of CNN? The outfit that became CNN belonged to his father and incurred so much debt that the guy (Ted’s father) committed suicide. So to even dare to take charge of it, Ted was crazy. But when he brought out a previously unheard-of idea (to start a 24-hour live cable TV station for only news), he confirmed that he was indeed crazy. CNN started up with low funds and a very low audience. It is said that at times, the ceilings would fall off the roof during live transmissions. But guess what? The crazy guy is the sane one today. How about Daniel, who preferred to be thrown into a den of lions instead of merely not praying for a while (or praying in secret), or how about Shedrach, Meschach and Abednigo who preferred to be thrown into fire alive instead of worshipping an idol for a few minutes? How about Jesus, who could easily call an entire legion of angels to his defense but instead, chose to die for the human beings who were going to kill him without any form of pity?I know you may not like my terms but it’s the truth. The world is not transformed by normal people. It is transformed by those who are crazy (for Christians, a better word would be ‘supernatural’). Normal people live the life of Solomon Grundy: Born on Monday, Christened of Tuesday, Got Married on Wednesday, Gave birth on Thursday, Took ill on Friday, Died on Saturday, Buried on Sunday and that is the end of Solomon Grundy. Normal people just contribute to the world by being a part of the 6 billion (their impact is felt only by increase in number and not in impact). But crazy people take the bull by the horns, challenge traditional thinking and make the difference. The problem is that while they are doing that, they come under a lot of criticism. But when they succeed, the same people who criticised them begin to praise them. Stop trying to be a part of the crowd. The way to succeed and make impact is to stand out from it. Try a new idea. Give your wildest imaginations a shot at fulfilment. It may not work out but you would have the satisfaction of knowing that you gave it your best shot. And perhaps, you would have earned the right not to be a part of Solomon Grundy’s family.

NB: In case you were inspired by my mention of Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg to drop out of school, be informed that it’s NOT necessarily my intention. I am a strong advocate of good education

‘Dami Cole

Stay updated. Follow @Dami_Cole on TWITTER Do not hesitate to leave your opinion in the comment section below. To contact damicole.com for Article Submission or General inquiry, send a mail to damilolacole@gmail.com

Too often, people who are promoted to their first leadership position miss the point. And that failure probably trips up careers more than any other reason.

Being a leader changes everything. Before you are a leader, success is all about you. It’s about your performance. Your contributions. It’s about raising your hand, getting called on, and delivering the right answer.

When you become a leader, success is all about growing others. It’s about making the people who work for you smarter, bigger, and bolder. Nothing you do anymore as an individual matters except how you nurture and support your team and help its members increase their self-confidence. Yes, you will get your share of attention from up above—but only inasmuch as your team wins. Put another way: Your success as a leader will come not from what you do but from the reflected glory of your team.

Now, that’s a big transition—and no question, it’s hard. Being a leader basically requires a whole new mindset. You’re no longer constantly thinking “How can I stand out?” but “How can I help my people do their jobs better?” Sometimes that requires undoing a couple of decades of momentum. After all, you probably spent your entire life, starting in grade school and continuing through your last job, as a contributor who excels at “raising your hand.” But the good news is that you’ve been promoted because someone above you believes you have the stuff to make the leap from star player to successful coach.

What does that leap actually involve? First and foremost, you need to actively mentor your people. Exude positive energy about life and the work that you are doing together, show optimism about the future, and care. Care passionately about each person’s progress. Give your people feedback—not just at yearend and midyear performance reviews but after meetings, presentations, or visits to clients. Make every significant event a teaching moment. Discuss what you like about what they are doing and ways that they can improve. Your energy will energize those around you.

And there’s no need for sugarcoating. Use total candor, which happens, incidentally, to be one of the defining characteristics of effective leaders.

Through it all, never forget—you’re a leader now. It’s not about you anymore. It’s about them.